WHAT IS GOING ON WITH AMTRAK?

As my yelling previously stated, what is going on with amtrak, I am totaly confused with wether its coming or going, stoping or starting, please clarify this for me.

No one knows yet. Bush currently has it in a spot where he can keep it or kill it. Too bad.

Jesse

Amtrak needs to sale its Northeast Corridor, its the only go line that they have

The question is not what’s going on with AMTRAK as much as it is what’ s going on (or not) in the heads of The Powers That Be back in Washington. Once THEY figure out whether they’re coming or going (or permanently stopped) then AMTRAK can let the rest of us know. Until then----can you say “Ida no?” (say it fast about three times.)
Tom [xx(]

I think we’re all in trouble, because those heads appear to be EMPTY.

Darn government subsidies grants… I think we may see the privitisation of the passenger rail service again… wich could mean alot of UP on the west coast or BNSF out here as well… I don’t have a problem with that as long as no one particular rail line has to much of the service nation wide.

Sigh!

O.K guys this is it basically, but I’m leaving a lot out as there is a lot more:

Inspite of the fact that Amtrak is growing in popularity many of the “powers that be” have been demanding for years that Amtrak make a profit. Yes, ridiculous, but unforunately that was one of the objectives that Amtrak was supposed to meet way back in the 70s. The cry from the "Anti-Amtrak senators, like John McCain, has been that Amtrak has received 30 Billion in subsidies from day one (1971) to now. It’s strange though since this is the amount of money that the Federal Aviation Administration consumed in just a 2 year period! Regardless, President Bush entered a “Zero” budget for Amtrak, for 2006. He claimed that it is to force the reform. I respect him, but disagree with him 100%.

He’s dumping Amtrak support from the federal level. I’m angry that millions of dollars are being used to rebuild Iraq’s railroad, though!!!

Anyway, our leaders can manipulate facts and figures. President Bush and Norm Mineta want to break Amtrak up and contract the routes out. They defend their actions by saying Amtrak is an unfair monopoly. Amtrak would still be in charge of liability insurance and certain aspects of operations and dealing with the separate private companies that would run the trains.

Additionally, the government will shift the burden over to the states and will provide grants for improving tracks and stations. The Northeast Corridor would be run as a separate entity. Translation, this likely means the end of most of our long distance trains as the only one that comes close to making a profit is the Auto Train. No passenger rail system in the world, including the bullet trains makes a profit. The governments of France, Italy, Japan view passenger trains as an important part of the transportation infrastructure.

Mineta claims that they don’t wi***o “kill” passenger service but reform it. He’s been touring the country and

You will NEVER see “privitisation” of long-distance passenger service - NONE of the major roads want it - that is why AMTRAK was formed in the first place!

When AMTRAK is gone, you will have some non-railroad company trying to run the NE commuter rails, perhaps some other company running some Calif rail (the state sure can’t afford it!), and NO cross-country passenger rail.

All of this supports the airline companies, which have given a lot of political donations to see it come about - they THINK that they will see more airline passengers … but not ME !!!

The loss of passenger rail will also have a negative impact on the MRR hobby, IMHO. If you don’t ride trains, you might not ever be interested in modeling trains. I know that an AMTRAK trip spurred my entry into the hobby.

Gbailey,

It’s not just a negative impact on model trains, it is an overall impact on us, though the claim by most of Amtrak’s critics is that only 1% of U.S travelers use long distance trains. How ironic that now long distance trains have been seeing a slow but steady increase in customers.

To top it off, Amtrak has had the best CEO at the helm since 1971. David Gunn is the man who helped turn around the New York City transit authority, which had the filthiest, graffitti laden subways in the U.S. He ignored the bleeding heart city officials that wanted to make graffitti on subways “o.k”, and spear headed efforts to clean up the trains, stations, and the overall system. His tenacity paid off.[8D][tup]

I refuse to believe that a well educated man like Norm Mineta is as stupid as he sounds [X-)]. His speeches about long distance trains being turned over to private operators is, IMHO, “Nod your head-double talk.” [D)]Except for the Auto Train, what operator would want to take over an operation that’s slated to lose money? MIneta surely knows that cross country trains, even when running full, don’t make a profit. His real emphasis is that states should develop local high speed “corridors” between key cities.

The argument from many Amtrak supporters is that cross country trains are a vaible alternative to our horribly congested highways. (please don’t tell me to use Greyhound!). My last flight from Texas to Florida was a turbulent, rough ride on a Southwest 737. Being a 6 foot tall, 240 pounder those seats were to me for grade school kids! My Amtrak trip from Florida to New York, on the other hand was quite comfortable.

So again guys, you can make a difference by contacting your congressional representatives, your state governors and mayors.

Peace!

Have passenger trains ever been that profitable? James J Hill once said they were like the male teat, “neither useful nor ornamental,” and that was before the automobile. If the ICC hadn’t mandated it, I think passenger service would have disappeared long before Amtrak came along: mail contracts were effectively subsidies in a lot of places.

The best thing you can do for Amtrak right now is to go out and ride it. I’ve had good experiences, frankly: took the Capitol Limited and Empire Builder out to Glacier National Park for a vacation a few years ago and enjoyed every bit of it. We got a sleeping compartment and were treated very hospitably in both Chicago and DC: a lounge in both places with free food and drinks, and the coaches were far, far more comfortable than even first class airline seats. When you consider that your fare from Washington to Glacier includes the food and hotel rooms that two days would otherwise consume, it’s a great deal, and they even provide tour guides in the club car west of Minneapolis.

And for you GN fans out there, all of Glacier’s facilities were built by the railroad, and almost every building has a little display showcasing the railroad’s history and contributions. And they make a ten minute stop in Havre, Montana, so you can stretch your legs and get a good look at an old GN 4-8-4.

I’d love to ride the Sunset Limited from Florida to New Orleans. Not during the Mardi Gras period, of course. Would be nice to explore the birth place of jazz, ride the trolley, and check out the history. To me, the train adds so much more flavor to a vacation!

This is a political football - it gets kicked all over the field. So far in the end some money is forth coming. Eventually it’ll be dropped. Why this form of passenger transportation has to pay it’s way when none of the others does is politics. Personally, I prefer the train and last year took a trip to Florida and one to Maine on Amtrak. I don’t know if it made money or not, but there were a lot of people riding it.
Enjoy
Paul

Passengers have never been profitable–carrying mail, however, was very profitable, and the era when the US Postal Service stopped running Railway Post Office cars also spelled the end of private passenger trains. Personally I think Amtrak made a big mistake when they decided to stop carrying mail last year, for just that reason–it helped subsidize the operation.

For some reason the American government thinks passenger rail has to make an unsubsidized profit, when it never did before in American history and does not do so anywhere else in the world. It is also amazing that somehow the subsidies given to air and road travel don’t count (remember those federal highways–we wouldn’t have interstate trucking if not for those tax-dollar supported roads!)

So is AMTRAK going bankrupt? I’m sorry, I haven’t heard the news yet!

It’s probably a density problem: pack 'em in as tightly as cattle, and charge 'em the same price, and you could get enough to make ends meet! It’s what United does, after all…

This is just another thing that George and his big doller Republican friends want to cut. We need more alternatives to driving ourselves everywhere, wasting all that gas and sending our money to Saudi Arabia only to end up in the hands of terrorists. We all would like to see Amtrak make a profit and support itself, but in the meantime let’s help it all we can. It’s a worth while institution. Call your representative and next time let’s vote for some one who lies to us less!

AMTRAK isn’t going bankrupt, George Bush wants to cut funding for it.

AMTRAK is a government-funded program, like it or not. If a government-funded program gets its funding cut, it does not “go bankrupt,” so saying AMTRAK is “going bankrupt” is like saying that HUD is “going bankrupt.”

I know, I know, technically AMTRAK is supposed to be a semi-private company, but it is, in effect, a government-subsidized passenger rail network, and one that is woefully underfunded compared to just about every other country that has a rail network.

It’s ASININE. COMMUNIST CHINA has 400 KMPH MAGLEV TRAINS. Why don’t we? Because we (the American government, which is technically “we”, as in “we the people”) won’t fund passenger rail!

Jetrock,

So well put and realistic!

I support our dedicated troops 100% but I just want to know why we have to finance rebuilding Iraq’s railroad!!

Because railroading is an integral means of transportation in any country, and because we took on the responsibility for fixing the stuff that we blew up. Why we can’t fix our own problems without looking for other countries’ systems to blow up and repair on our dime is beyond me…

Empty or not - It’s just not a priority for our leaders. It’s funny, now that the minute men are patrolling the boarder in AZ, the illegal immigration problem is now becoming a priority. The government will move when people act.